WellesleyWeston Magazine

FALL 2018

Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 70 of 207

AL: My scientific worldview impacts me when
I write about religion or philosophy. Let's put
physics aside — physics, or any science for that
matter, is not about the pursuit of meaning.
It's the pursuit of truth. Meaning is what we as
human beings attach to truth or falsity. If I
believed in a cosmic meaning, such as God
having a purpose for the universe and for us
human beings, I think that would affect my
essays about religion or philosophy. But I don't
believe those things. I believe that the universe
does not have a purpose, and I believe that we
as individuals give our own lives purpose, and
that it's very individual — that my purpose in
life might be different than yours' and what I
find meaning in may not be the same for you.
I should point out, however, that I definitely
have great respect for other views, such as for
people who believe in God.
WWM: This past spring you released a new
collection of essays called Searching for
Stars on an Island in Maine. Can you tell us
more about this book and the inspiration
behind it?
AL: This new book explores the dialogue be-
tween science and religion: the differences in
the kind of knowledge in science and in reli-
gion and how that knowledge is arrived at. I
draw on sources ranging from St. Augustine's
conception of absolute truth to Einstein's rela-
tivity, from a belief in the divine and eternal
nature of stars to their discovered materiality
and mortality, from the unity of the once indi-
visible atom to the multiplicity of subatomic particles and the recent notion of multiple universes.
Rather than confront all of these issues head-on, the book reads like an extended meditation as I
wander about an island in Maine, where my wife and I spend our summers.
WWM: What else are you working on?
AL: I have a small book about the importance of unplugging from the wired world that was
69
W
e
l
l
e
s
l
e
y
W
e
s
t
o
n
M
a
g
a
z
i
n
e
|
f
a
l
l
2
0
1
8
an interview with alan lightman